


Choose Your Battles Wisely

by Anonymous_Cupcake



Category: Banana Fish (Anime & Manga)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Pokemon, Champion Okumura Eiji, Cute Okumura Eiji, Gen, Legendary Pokemon, Pining Ash Lynx, Pokemon Battles, Pokemon Gym Leader Ash Lynx, Shorter is just here to have fun and tease Ash, They/Them Pronouns for Zamazenta (Pokemon), This is before Ash falls in love
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-18
Updated: 2020-07-18
Packaged: 2021-03-05 10:33:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,072
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25349266
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Anonymous_Cupcake/pseuds/Anonymous_Cupcake
Summary: Ash somewhat liked battling for crowds but he also loved the underground battles that would be held in the sewers. There was just one problem. Shorter wasn't picky enough about who could join. It was why this scrawny looking Asian kid was here, frozen in place and staring at everything like a deer in headlights.--Ash was ready to tease him for apologizing when Eiji's pokemon revealed themself. For the first time in Arceus knows how long, the room was silent. How the fuck was Inteleon going to win againstZamazenta??
Relationships: Ash Lynx & Okumura Eiji, Ash Lynx & Shorter Wong, Sing Soo-Ling & Shorter Wong
Comments: 6
Kudos: 58





	Choose Your Battles Wisely

**Author's Note:**

> Totally not procrastinating on anything. I'll be writing AUs for the humor and so that everyone can be happy until I die. (I also got the expansion pass for Shield which is why I'm writing about Pokemon and I also totally did not forget to post this 2 days ago)

Ash liked battling. He liked being in control. He liked battling against people that actually knew what they were doing. (If they managed to get this far then they had to be good but he manages to fight people that still don't understand type matchups.) He had an unexplained fondness for Ghost types and that's why he was put in charge of the gym.

Most people didn't know he had two teams. His first was the team he used during gym battles, consisting of Ghost types because of the obvious. The second was, in his opinion, his better team. It was more personalized, Cursola and Mimikyu were the only ones that were from his gym team.

Dino did give him a Liepard once, which was then given to Shorter in exchange for Toxel. (There was nothing wrong with Liepard. Ash didn't want any pokemon that Dino gave him. The last time he saw Liepard she looked well so he's pretty sure there's no hard feelings.)

Whether he was referred to as a gym leader or a normal trainer didn't matter. He would still be called a devil. Despite the fact Gyms weren't designed to be unbeatable and there's regulations in place to make sure they aren't, Ash was the reason many trainers gave up. He was worse with his personalized team. While he did have his preferences he liked to switch up his team at random, making it hard for people who would train their pokemon to fight a specific team.

Ash somewhat liked battling for crowds but he also loved the underground battles that would be held in the sewers. The sewers themself were massive, large enough to contain most Dynamax pokemon. There were a few ground rules about who could Dynamax to make sure no one broke anything important, but then again, Ash always wondered why the government would even allow Dynamax energy to flow freely underground.

There was just one problem. Shorter wasn't picky enough about who could join. It was why this scrawny looking Asian kid was here, frozen in place and staring at everything like a deer in headlights. Shorter seemed to like him though. He was excitedly explaining their reasoning for underground battling while the kid nodded occasionally, clearly uninterested. 

Ash approached him once Shorter stopped clinging to him to help the others set up. "Let me guess, first time?" He asked. The kid looked up and blinked, like he wasn't expecting Ash to talk to him. Ash wasn't going to lie, he was kind of cute. He almost looked _too_ innocent, messy hair and big brown eyes as well as his small stature and the slightly baggy clothes he wore. It was like he was trying too hard yet not trying at all.

"This isn't underground battling." He said, and Ash could swear the temperature dropped by two degrees. A few people turned to look at him, astonished that he would say something like that out loud and in front of them.

"It's not real underground battling." The kid continued. "First off, people know it's happening and the police just don't care enough to stop it. Usually there's a small group of people that were handpicked and that's it. And there's no Dynamaxing either. If you did this back home you'd get into big trouble." Ash couldn't help but smile, the kid really cared about this and it was adorable how passionate he was about the legitimacy of it.

"You really care about battles." Ash concluded. The kid nodded and held out his hand. "I'm Eiji Okumura."

"Ash." Eiji smiled and said his name out loud, his accent making it sound like a sneeze. Adorable.

"Alright we got everyone sorted! No double battles and most pokemon have been cleared for Dynamaxing. We're banning Wailords temporarily and we all know why." Shorter yelled, handing out the lists of trainers who would be battling. "First up is Bones and Alex!"

Ash looked over the list. As usual, he would be one of the last ones to fight. They made their own version of a lottery to determine who his opponent would be. He wondered if Sing held true to his word and rigged it so he could fight him again. Instead, the name Eiji Okumura was written neatly next to his. That had to have been a mistake.

"It's not a mistake." Shorter explained when Ash brought it up. People were screaming and shoving as they crowded around the manmade arena, careful not to step over the safety lines they made. Ash glanced at his opponent. Eiji was quiet, watching the match with stars in his eyes and bated breath. There was no way he could win against Ash, even if he did go easy on him.

"I thought you tried to make the matches as fair as possible." Ash yelled as the noise increased. Shorter craned his neck to look at Eiji, "I did! Trust me, he's good."

"How do you know that?"

Shorter blinked. "You seriously don't know?"

Before Ash could ask what he meant by that, the crowd screamed as Cinderace fainted. Shorter made his way to the winner. "And the winner is Sing! Way to go buddy!" He praised, playfully ruffling Sing's hair as the younger boy blushed. "Shut up!"

"Next up is the match you've been waiting for… Ash Lynx versus Eiji Okumura!"

Ash took another peek at Eiji as the crowd continued to scream. He didn't look that worried, just smiled and waved at Ash as he made his way to the front. Standing in front of each other, Ash shook his hand again. It was a formality, something they did for good luck. The crowd kept yelling as they got into position.

"Go Ash!"

"Fuck it up!"

"Beat that kid's ass!"

Ash wanted to sigh at how immature some of the people were but he stopped when Eiji laughed. Damn it, Ash is going to feel bad about winning because this kid can't stop being cute.

"By the way, I'm nineteen." Eiji addressed the crowd, smirking at the various reactions. He definitely did not look nineteen, maybe fifteen, and Ash was just assuming he was short for his age. The bag slung over Eiji's shoulder twitched. He smiled and put it down, his Rotom phone flying out when he opened it. It snapped a photo of him and continued hovering in the air. Eiji pointed to it. "Is it alright if I film? I like to look back on matches to see where I can improve."

On any normal occasion Ash would say no. He had some issues surrounding cameras that he pushed back whenever he did gym battles because the world expected entertainment. If he didn't have to be in the spotlight he'd gladly stay out of it. But he trusted Eiji, this weird teen that walked into their sewers and ranted about the legitimacy of their battles and wanted to know how to be better. Ash admired him.

So he shocked the crowd by telling Eiji it was alright to film him. Shorter grinned and stood on the small box he brought with him. "Alright are we ready?!" More screams. People were definitely going to lose their voices after this. Shorter kept smiling. "Begin!"

Without hesitating Ash and Eiji grabbed a pokeball from their bags, Toxtricity and Drednaw respectively.

The battle lasted longer than what was deemed the norm. Eiji put up a decent fight, smiling and praising his team the entire time. Ash couldn't help but smile too as Eiji's team slowly fainted one by one. He actually felt bad, and the crowd didn't help one bit. And then Eiji had the audacity to have a Snom with him. Ash could hear the disappointed noise Shorter made when the pokemon fainted (and then the crowd called him a heartless bastard on top of it). When Eiji's last pokemon was front and center, Ash decided it was time.

His Inteleon returned to his pokeball as the band around his wrist glowed. The crowd, who had been waiting for this moment, began cheering louder than then they had before. He threw the gigantic pokeball in the air and enjoyed watching Eiji's expression change as he watched Inteleon grow and change.

Talonflame turned to look at Eiji and then looked up at Inteleon, already dreading the next attack. Inteleon's Gigantamaxed form gave him a 130ft tail that he stretched to make a pillar to sit on top of. His water rifle was barely visible from that high. It wouldn't matter if Eiji decided to Dynamax, Ash has already won.

At least, Ash thought he already won.

As Eiji snapped out of his trance to focus, his attention shifted to his bag. If he had another pokemon it didn't matter what type it was, (unless it was a grass type but Ash was fairly confident Inteleon could handle them), the match was still his.

Eiji dug the pokeball out and a grateful Talonflame left the field. "I'm sorry!" He yelled before throwing the ball at full force.

Ash was ready to tease him for apologizing when Eiji's pokemon revealed themself. For the first time in Arceus knows how long, the room was silent.

How the fuck was Inteleon going to win against _Zamazenta??_

Shorter stared at the legendary, eyes wide and mouth agape. There was technically no rule about this. "Fair game!" He yelled.

"There is no way this is fair game!" Ash cried out. It was almost eerily silent as the pokemon _headbutted_ Inteleon, an instant game over.

No cheers, no screams, just silence. To be fair, it wasn't everyday some random trainer had a legendary with them. To Ash's knowledge only champions were able to catch them.

Wait…

Shorter broke the silence. "And the winner is Eiji! Holy shit man, what a battle!" His enthusiasm persuaded the others to clap and cheer. Everyone was still slightly dazed as they stared at Zamazenta in awe.

Zamazenta howled, a low and slightly creepy noise that terrified and intrigued Ash. And then they kneeled and let Eiji pet them! _He was petting them!_

Ash was going to lose it. This was too much. How could Eiji impress him in so many ways during just one match? Shit he was supposed to say something. He was finally beaten in battle, he had to say something.

"Shit it's the cops!"

The mention of cops caused the crowd to go wild. People started running in all directions, doing their best to avoid getting caught. Ash grabbed Shorter and ran off, looking behind to see Eiji stuff his Rotom into his bag and run in the opposite direction. His eyes met Eiji's briefly, and the older teen smiled before disappearing.

Out of breath and hiding in Shorter's tiny apartment, Ash finally asked the question that was on his mind.

"Who the hell is Eiji?"

Shorter sighed like he had been waiting for this his entire life. He kicked his shoes off and let them fall on the floor and grabbed his phone. "Rotobro, read some of the importance bits from Eiji's wikipedia page."

Rotom beeped and read aloud. "Okumura Eiji. Previously lived in Izumo and was a Flying Type Gym Leader before becoming Champion. He helped catch at least three legendary pokemon, allowing one to roam free under heavy supervision and gifted the other to his rival."

"Wow." Was all Ash could say. Shorter smirked. "Show Ash the picture we found."

Rotom turned to him and showed the image his friend was talking about. The caption read _Okumura during one of his Gym Battles_. He had on what looked to be his gym uniform and Ash's eyes ended up wandering down, where it showed Eiji wearing some extremely short shorts. That had to be illegal, how could anyone concentrate on a battle when he wore that?

"Like what you see?" Shorter teased, enjoying the way Ash's face turned bright red.

"Shut up."

"You think someone's gonna endorse him?" Shorter changed the topic. Ash shrugged. The guy was a Gym Leader and is currently Champion. He probably just came to New York for vacation and that was what he told Shorter.

"Bet you five bucks we'll see him again."

Ash rolled his eyes but agreed to his friend's bet, only to eventually curse himself when not a week later, Eiji had appeared at one of the bars they hung out at.

Now he owed Shorter five dollars.


End file.
